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Oliver Cromwell By: John Drinkwater (1882-1937) |
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A Play By
JOHN DRINKWATER
[Illustration: (Gout bien ou rien)
(The Riverside Press)]
Boston and New York
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
To BERNARD SHAW with Homage to the
Master Dramatist of his Age
and with the Gratitude that is his Due
from Every Younger Writer for
the English Theatre
The Characters Are MRS. CROMWELL, Oliver's mother
ELIZABETH CROMWELL, his wife
BRIDGET CROMWELL, his daughter
JOHN HAMPDEN
HENRY IRETON
OLIVER CROMWELL
SETH TANNER
TWO AGENTS TO THE EARL OF BEDFORD
AMOS TANNER
A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS
BASSETT, an officer of the House
THE MAYOR OF ELY
GENERAL FAIRFAX
COLONEL STAINES
COLONEL PEMBERTON
A SCOUT
A SURGEON
AN AIDE
NEAL, Secretary to Charles
CHARLES I
Farm labourers Members of Parliament
SCENE I
CROMWELL'S house at Ely, about the year 1639. An early summer evening.
The window of the room opens on to a smooth lawn, used for bowling, and
a garden full of flowers. OLIVER'S wife, ELIZABETH CROMWELL, is sitting at the table, sewing. In
a chair by the open window MRS. CROMWELL, his mother, is reading. She is
eighty years of age. Mrs. Cromwell:
Oliver troubles me, persuading everywhere. Restless like this. Elizabeth:
He says that the time is uneasy, and that we are part of it. Mrs. Cromwell:
There's a man's house. It's enough surely. Elizabeth:
I know. But Oliver must be doing. You know how when he took the
magistracy he would listen to none of us. He knows best. Mrs. Cromwell:
What time is John coming? Elizabeth:
By nightfall he said. Henry Ireton is coming with him. Mrs. Cromwell:
John Hampden is like that, too. He excites the boy. Elizabeth:
Yes, but mother, you will do nothing with Oliver by thinking of him as
a boy. Mrs. Cromwell:
Of course he's a boy. Elizabeth:
He's forty. Mrs. Cromwell:
Methuselah. Elizabeth:
What? Mrs. Cromwell:
I said Methuselah. Elizabeth:
He says John's the bravest man in England. Mrs. Cromwell:
Just because he won't pay a tax. How if everybody refused to pay taxes?
If you don't have taxes, I don't see how you are to have a government.
Though I can't see that it governs anybody, except those that don't need
it. Elizabeth:
Oliver says it's a wrong tax, this ship money. Mrs. Cromwell:
There's always something wrong. It keeps men busy, I suppose. Elizabeth:
But it was brave of John. Mrs. Cromwell:
I know, I know. But why must he come here to night of all in the year?
Oliver's like somebody out of the Bible about to morrow as it is. This
will make him worse. I wish John no harm, but well, I hope he's got a
bad horse. Elizabeth:
Oliver's mind is made up about the common, whatever happens. John will
make no difference. Mrs. Cromwell:
You can't pretend he'll make him more temperate. Elizabeth:
It's very wrong to take away the common from the people. I think Oliver
is right. Mrs. Cromwell:
Of course he's right. But I'm too old. I've seen too many broken heads.
He'll be no righter for a broken head. (BRIDGET CROMWELL, a girl, comes. She takes some eggs from her apron and
puts them on a dish on a shelf.) Bridget:
Why, grandmother, whose head is to be broken? Mrs. Cromwell:
Your father's is like to be. Bridget:
You mean to morrow? Elizabeth:
At the meeting, yes. Bridget:
But he must do it. Why, the people have fished and kept cattle there
longer than any one can remember. Who is an Earl of Bedford to take it
away from them? I know I would let my head be broken first. Elizabeth:
It is said that the King gave leave. Bridget:
Then the King gave what wasn't his to give. Mrs. Cromwell:
Now, child, don't you encourage your father, too... Continue reading book >>
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